Ten percent of all bird species are set
to disappear by the end of this century, according to a study by
researchers at Stanford University. Authored by a research team in the
Stanford Center for Conservation Biology and published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study concludes
that up to 14% of all bird species may be extinct, while one out of four
species could be critically endangered or extinct in the wild. The
research team warns that this is likely to have a negative impact on
forest ecosystems and agricultural biodiversity worldwide, including the
decline of important ecosystem processes, such as decomposition,
pollination and seed dispersal.

The research team analyzed 9,787 living
and 129 extinct species, resulting in one of the most comprehensive
databases of a class of organisms ever compiled. They then applied three
future scenarios in a computer programme designed to forecast population
changes.

“Our projections indicate
that, by 2100, up to 14 percent of all bird species may be extinct and
that as many as one out of four may be functionally extinct – that is,
critically endangered or extinct in the wild,” said Çagan
Sekercioglu, who headed the research team.
Island birds, birds with highly specialized diets and birds which are
scavengers and insectivores were identified as the birds at greatest
risk.

The debate over genetically-modified
(GM) crops has continued in recent weeks with the release of a report on
GM maize in Mexico, approval of GM maize in Europe, and a decision to
allow GM soy in Brazil.

The report on Maize and Biodiversity:
the Effects of Transgenic Maize in Mexico, prepared by the North
American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, has confirmed that
transgenes from GM maize imported into Mexico from the US have entered
local varieties, are likely to spread, and will be very difficult to
remove. It recommends a moratorium on commercial planting of transgenic
maize, until adequate research and risk/benefit assessments on gene flow
are conducted and more information is made available to Mexican farmers.

The report was a response to a petition
by 21 indigenous communities of Oaxaca and three Mexican environmental
groups urging an analysis of the impacts of transgenic introgression
into landraces of maize in Mexico, a center of origin and diversity for
maize. Responding to the report, the Canadian government said it found
the key findings to be balanced and consistent with their scientific
understanding, regulatory approach and accepted international standards.
However, it noted that some of the report’s recommendations did not
appear to be supported by the scientific evidence, particularly
regarding gene flow. The US sharply criticized the report as
“fundamentally flawed,” for ignoring science, failing to consider the
costs and benefits of the recommended measures and failing to evaluate
the economic benefits for Mexican farmers as a result of the use of
biotechnology.

In related news Brazilian President Luis
Inacio Lula da Silva recently issued an executive order allowing
Brazilian farmers to legally plant GM soy until January 2006. The order
was necessary to fill a legal gap, as the draft biosafety bill, which
permits the planting of GM crops, has been approved by the Senate but
still requires the approval of the lower house of the Brazilian
parliament.

Meanwhile in Europe, the European
Commission decided in late October to approve the GM maize NK-603,
developed by Monsanto and modified to resist the company’s herbicide
Roundup. The product has been approved for the European market and human
consumption, but not for cultivation. More recently, an EU expert
committee meeting held on 29 November failed to reach a decision on
whether to apply legal pressure over a decision by five EU member States
to lift their national bans on authorized GM products.

The Global Crop Diversity Trust, an
initiative aimed at conserving plant genetic resources vital for food
security, entered into force on 21 October 2004. The goal of the Trust
is to provide a secure and sustainable source of funding for the world’s
most important crop diversity collections. There are more than 1,400
crop diversity collections around the world. These collections are the
best sources of the raw material farmers and breeders need to develop
new crop varieties, at a time of unprecedented loss of plant diversity
and extreme hunger and poverty in many parts of the world.

Sweden’s decision to join the initiative
gave the Trust the support it needed to enter into force. Other
signatories include Cape Verde, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Mali,
Morocco, Samoa, Syria, Tonga and Togo. Sweden has pledged about US$7
million to the Trust, joining other donors, including Ethiopia, which
recently pledged US$50,000, in spite of being one of the 10 poorest
countries in the world.

“Ethiopia is very rich in agricultural
biodiversity but extremely poor in financial resources,” said Dr.
Tewolde, Director General of the Ethiopia’s Environmental Protection
Authority and a member of the Trust’s Interim Panel of Eminent Experts.
“The future for Ethiopians, along with the rest of humanity, cannot be
secure unless the future of agriculture is secured. Therefore, we
welcome the opportunity to help save the world’s crop diversity
collections.”

The framework of the Trust is provided
by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture, the Trust being one of the elements of the funding strategy
of the Treaty. To date, the Trust has raised about US$51 million, with
another $60 million under discussion.

“FAO welcomes the establishment of the
Global Crop Diversity Trust so soon after the coming into force of the
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture,” said Louise Fresco, Assistant Director-General of the FAO
Agriculture Department. “The Trust will help ensure that one of the key
objectives of the Treaty, the safe conservation of crop diversity,
becomes a reality.”

AMPHIBIANS AT RISK
- NEARLY ONE THIRD THREATENED WITH EXTINCTION, STUDY FINDS

Amphibian species
are declining at an unprecedented rate, experiencing tens of thousands
of years worth of extinctions in this last century, finds the most
comprehensive study to date. A collaborative effort by scientists from
Conservational International, IUCN and NatureServe representing the
collective efforts of over 500 scientists from more than 60 countries,
the Global Amphibian Assessment examined the distribution and
conservation status of all 5,743 known amphibian species. Thirty-two
percent of these species are already considered threatened with
extinction. With highly permeable skin, amphibians are sensitive to
environmental changes and serve as a good natural indicator of
environmental health. The cause of the dramatic decline is in part due
to
chytridiomycosis, a highly infectious disease affecting amphibians that
is being increasingly attributed to droughts linked to climate change.
Other causes of the decline are habitat destruction, air and water
pollution and consumer demand. The results of the Assessment are
presented on the initiative’s website, but will also be published in a
forthcoming issue of Science. A framework is being established to
enable an ongoing process for implementing long-term monitoring of
amphibians around the world, with a new IUCN Global Amphibian Specialist
Group formed to bolster this effort.

“Biodiversity for Food
Security” was the theme of this year’s World Food Day, celebrated on 16
October. The theme aims to highlight biodiversity’s role in ensuring
that people have sustainable access to sufficient diversified and
nutritious food.

Noting that about
three-quarters of the genetic diversity of agricultural crops have been
lost over the last century, and that food supply has become more
vulnerable, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf highlighted the entry
into force of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for
Food and Agriculture and the establishment of a Global Crop Diversity
Trust to strengthen the capacity of developing countries to preserve
agricultural biodiversity.

The initiative was welcome
by CBD Executive Secretary Hamdallah Zedan, who highlighted the role of
biodiversity in reaching the Millennium Development Goal of reducing
hunger by half by 2015. He recalled that CBD COP-7 urged consideration
of a cross-cutting initiative on biodiversity for food and nutrition,
noting the linkage between biodiversity, food and nutrition and the need
to enhance sustainable use of biodiversity to combat hunger and
malnutrition.

INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION
ADOPTS RESOLUTION ON THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENTS IN PRESERVING BIODIVERSITY

In its 111th session, the
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) unanimously adopted a resolution
affirming the role of parliaments in preserving biological diversity.
The resolution calls on States to: ratify the CBD and the Cartagena
Protocol on Biosafety, and take more effective action towards
implementation; implement the provisions for a programme of work on
protected areas, particularly in marine ecosystems; coordinate efforts
to reduce biodiversity loss on the high seas; commit themselves to the
establishment of an international regime on access and benefit-sharing;
and increase public awareness of biodiversity conservation.

US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) researchers have found that a GM bentgrass, modified to
resist the herbicide Roundup, can pollinate test plants up to 21
kilometers and wild grass up to 14 kilometers downwind.
The results are likely to heighten concerns
about the unintentional spread of genes from GM crops. The
findings suggest that previous studies of the environmental impact of GM
plants have been too small to capture the full spread of GM genes, as
they usually involved much smaller test farms. Critics of the GM grass,
developed by Monsanto and Scotts for use on golf courses, point that it
could spread to areas where it is not wanted or transfer its herbicide
resistance to weeds. The US Department of Agriculture noted that more
conclusive research is needed, and will produce an environmental impact
assessment before reaching a decision on its commercialization.

Both in Thailand and in
Hawaii, papaya seeds thought to be traditional were found to contain
genetic material from GM varieties.

In Thailand, where a three
years ban on GMOs still holds, Agriculture Minister Somsak Thepsuthin
admitted that GM papaya trees grown from seeds distributed by the
government’s Khon Kaen experimental research station have been found on
eight farms. The findings led the government to destroy its research
farm, impose a control zone to stop the GM contamination, and halt open
field tests.

In Hawaii, independent
laboratory testing found that papayas from organic farms and
conventional seeds sold by the University of Hawaii contained GM
material. Organic farmers, consumers and backyard growers now demand
liability protection, a plan for cleaning up the papaya contamination
and prevention of contamination of other Hawaiian commodity crops.
Citing the Percy Schmeiser case, Toi Lahti, an organic farmer, also
noted that “this opens farmers to oppressive lawsuits based on claims of
patent infringement.” Other papaya farmers raised concerns about impacts
on export markets.

In Europe, for the first
time since the de facto moratorium ended on 19 May 2004, the
European Commission decided to approve 17 GM maize varieties for
cultivation in the EU. The decision, which concerns the approval of 17
different strains of Monsanto’s 810 maize, was criticized by
environmentalists. At the same time, the Commission postponed discussion
on the controversial issue of co-existence of traditional and GM crops.
In a related development, the Assembly of European Regions and Friends
of the Earth Europe have recently launched a joint long-term campaign,
aiming to protect traditional crops from GM contamination. Among other
things, the campaign will lobby for the establishment of a legal
framework on the co-existence of traditional and GM crops and the legal
recognition of GM-free zones and regions in Europe. The Assembly of
European Regions currently has 250 member regions from 30 European
countries and 12 interregional organizations.

CITES UPDATE: AFRICA’S
WILDLIFE ON THE SPOTLIGHT, IVORY MARKET IN THE US, LAW ENFORCEMENT
NETWORK TO BE ESTABLISHED IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Proposals to amend the
Appendices are often the highlight of the Conference of the Parties to
the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and
Flora (CITES). The current 13th CITES COP, which is taking place in
Bangkok, will consider proposals on such species as the humphead wrasse,
great white shark, irrawaddy dolphin, ramin and yew trees, Southern
white rhinoceros, yellow-crested cockatoo, minke whale and the African
lion and elephant. This media story spotlights the situation concerning
elephants.

The volume of illegal ivory
trade has increased since 1995, according to the latest data from the
Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS). More than 4,000 elephants are
killed every year, while China, Thailand, Cameroon, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Nigeria are listed as the world’s most
implicated countries in illegal ivory trade. Domestic markets and poor
law enforcement are said to drive the poaching of animals in Africa and
Asia. Furthermore, a TRAFFIC investigation found a thriving ivory market
in the US – both legal and illegal. TRAFFIC found that the US has the
highest rate of ivory seizures in the world, with much of the ivory
brought into the country by individual consumers. “This indicates that
law enforcement is doing a good job … but it also means Americans are
ignoring the law and continuing to fuel demand for ivory …” said Simon
Habel, director of TRAFFIC North America. The growth of online commerce
has also created a new channel for ivory trade for Americans.

In southern Africa, conservationists and government
authorities are looking into solutions to address the overpopulation of
elephants in national parks, resulting in destruction of woodlands.
While South Africa is considering culling its herds, with contraception
and translocation as other possible solutions, the Conservation Ecology
Research Unit at the University of Pretoria proposed “Megaparks for
Metapopulations,” a theory involving expanding transnational parks,
drying up water holes and merging herds with high and low reproduction
rates, to allow them reduce more naturally.

The African lion’s
uplisting in CITES Appendix I, as proposed by Kenya, is also expected to
create some degree of controversy. Kenya argues the continent’s lions
are pushed close to extinction, due to habitat destruction, the loss of
prey and unsustainable trophy hunting. While it is doubtful whether
trophy hunting can be considered to be international trade and therefore
fall within the CITES’ scope, southern African States are expected to
oppose the Kenyan proposal.

Meanwhile Zimbabwean
officials have been accused of falsifying the size of the country’s
elephant population. The Zimbabwean Conservation Taskforce says the
country’s elephant population has fallen to 60,000, while official
numbers count the population at 100,000. Conservationists denounce
indiscriminate shooting of elephants in national parks, and call for a
comprehensive survey of the country’s elephant population under CITES
supervision.

Furthermore, law
enforcement remains a problem in Africa. While the situation seems to be
better in Asia, wildlife smuggling is still common. According to WildAid-Thailand,
Thailand in particular has become a networking center for trafficking
wildlife from the region into China and Northern Asia. In that regard,
conservationists welcomed Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s
opening speech at CITES COP-13 and his proposal to establish a new
Southeast Asian law enforcement network to combat illegal wildlife
trade.

Ecuador’s Yasuni National
Park, one of the world’s most megadiverse regions, is under threat due
to a licence granted to the Brazilian national oil company, Petrobras,
to undertake oil development activities.

The license allows
Petrobras to build a new road, a pipeline, two drilling platforms and a
processing plant in Yasuni National Park. Concerns center on the new
road, which would cut through large parts of undisturbed rainforest,
providing an easy route for loggers, farmers and hunters to enter the
park. The license has generated opposition from environmental and
scientists’ groups, who have decided to take judicial action requesting
an injunction of the license. The Indigenous Nationalities Confederation
of Ecuador demanded its cancellation, while the Indigenous Nationalities
Confederation of the Ecuadorian Amazonia declared resistance to all
plans for petroleum exploitation in the region.

Yasuni National Park
shelters a wide-ranging diversity of wildlife and tree species, and was
designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1989.

The upcoming 13th Conference of the
Parties (COP-13) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) will address the protection of
commercially valuable species, in addition to charismatic mammals, such
as the African elephant and the minke whale. Delegates are expected to
consider proposals on marine and plant species of high trade value,
including the humphead wrasse, the great white shark, and a number of
medicinal plants. According to a IUCN/TRAFFIC/WWF briefing document, the
humphead wrasse is naturally rare and extremely vulnerable to
overexploitation. Demand for this large coral reef fish from the Indian
and Pacific oceans is already high and illegal trade is difficult to
control. Another important item on the CITES agenda
is a Chinese-American proposal to control
trade in the Asian yew tree, whose leaves are used to make paclitaxel, a
key ingredient for cancer drugs.

On other CITES news, the
CITES Secretariat has recently published the 2004 export quotas for
three Black Sea countries that jointly manage the sturgeon stocks that
spawn in the Danube River. The quotas allow Romania to export 3,410 kilos of caviar, Bulgaria 1,720
kilos and Serbia and Montenegro 700 kilos. These countries also plan to
export a combined total of 23,000 kilos of sturgeon meat. CITES
Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers noted that “while several press
stories in recent days erroneously stated that CITES has placed a ban on
caviar, these first new quotas for 2004 demonstrate that the process in
place for establishing quotas is indeed working.” The CITES Secretariat
will publish annual quotas for other sturgeon range States after
receiving the required information from the world’s other shared
sturgeon basins, concerning common management plans, annual stock
assessments and agreed catch quotas.

On related news, a study recently
published in Science journal, found that affiliated species are
at risk when host species of flora or fauna are endangered. The study,
produced by the National University of Singapore and the Universities of
Tennessee, US, and Alberta, Canada, concluded that the list of
endangered species is much larger and more serious than originally
thought. The research team compiled a list of 12,200 plants and animals
currently listed as threatened or endangered, and then looked at other
organisms that are affiliated with the threatened host. They found that
at least 200 affiliate species have already been lost through
co-extinction and that a further 6,300 should be classified as
“co-endangered.”

Finally, Botswana, which has the
largest elephant population in Africa, will donate 500 elephants to
Mozambique, in an effort to rehabilitate the Gorongosa
National Park. Wildlife in Gorongosa suffered a massive decline in the
1980s due to poaching during Mozambique’s civil war. Mozambique is now
looking into funding to move the animals into the country.

Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia have
informally circulated a proposal to establish a “development agenda” at
the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The proposal is
expected to be presented at the 31st session of the WIPO General
Assembly, to be held from 27 September to 5 October 2004.

The proposal calls for a radical change
in WIPO’s mandate and operations to address the needs of developing
countries. It calls on WIPO to integrate the UN development agenda,
including the Millennium Development Goals, stresses that intellectual
property enforcement should be approached in the context of broader
societal interests and development-related concerns, and highlights
countries’ rights to implement their international obligations in
accordance with their own legal systems. Furthermore, the proposal
highlights concerns regarding the negotiations on the Substantive Patent
Law Treaty. It concludes that “a vision that promotes the absolute
benefits of intellectual property protection without acknowledging
public policy concerns undermines the very credibility of the IP system.
Integrating the development dimension into the IP system and WIPO’s
activities, on the other hand, will strengthen the credibility of the IP
system and encourage its wider acceptance as an important tool for the
promotion of innovation, creativity and development.”

The location of GM pharmaceutical crop
field trials in the state of Hawaii does not constitute confidential
business information and needs to be made public, a US court ruled on 4
August. The so-called biopharm crops have been genetically modified to
produce non-food items, such as drugs or industrial chemicals.

The plaintiff, Center for Food Safety,
represented by the public interest law firm Earthjustice, sought the
locations of the field trials to force the USDA to conduct environmental
impact assessments before allowing open air trials. Earthjustice added
that none of these crops has been approved for consumption or for
release into the environment. The government and industry argued that
public disclosure could lead to crop vandalism and corporate espionage
of trade secrets. Under the court order, the locations of the
experimental fields of four companies will be disclosed to Earthjustice,
which must keep the information confidential for at least 90 days.

Hawaii has more than 4,000 field test
sites for GM crops, more than anywhere else in the world. This is the
first time that locations of GM tests in the US will be revealed to a
third party.

A month ahead of the 13th Conference of
the Parties (COP) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the European Commission has
adopted a proposal on tightening trade rules regarding the great white
shark, the Napoleon fish and timber from the rainforest tree ramin. The
EU is also opposed to commercial trade in minke whales, as well as to a
resumption of ivory trade, unless it is clear that it will not lead to
increased poaching. However, the proposal adds that “some
southern African countries have been very successful in protecting their
elephant populations. The need to prevent any ivory from entering the
market generates stockpiles that impose a big security burden on these
countries.” The proposal will be
reviewed by the Council of Ministers before CITES COP-13, which is
scheduled for 2-14 October in Bangkok.

On ramin, a tropical hardwood timber
sourced mainly from Southeast Asia, a report released by TRAFFIC, the
wildlife trade monitoring network, examines the situation in its key
trading countries, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, and stresses the
importance of trilateral collaboration to strengthen trade controls. The
report “Framing the Picture: An Assessment of Ramin Trade in Indonesia,
Malaysia and Singapore,” shows that the species’ habitat is critically
threatened due to legal and illegal trade. Although ramin is currently
listed in CITES Appendix III, enforcement is weak and Indonesia has
proposed uplisting it to Appendix II at CITES COP-13, which would
provide for additional controls and support ongoing enforcement efforts.

On related news, customs officers in
southern China have seized more than 8,000 horns of endangered antelopes
smuggled in for use in traditional medicine. Some of the horns are
believed to belong to the Saiga antelope, a breed that went nearly
extinct in China in the 1940s. In Sumatra, five members of an illegal
wildlife trade network were convicted for poaching and illegal trade in
the endangered Sumatran tiger. They were sentenced to a total of six
years in prison and to fines of US$7,750.

The Brazilian government has launched a
US$1 million project to create a single network of national biodiversity
databases through gathering currently dispersed information and
establishing new specimen collection centers. The project aims to give
Brazil control over its own biodiversity and to secure sharing of
benefits that arise from its commercial use. Most of the information
will be available to the public. However, data with commercial value
will be available to companies under restrictive or paid conditions. The
project has received criticism from states whose organizations were
excluded from the process.

On related news, Brazil’ Amazonas State
Government Office for the Environment and Sustainable Development and
WWF-Brazil have signed a technical cooperation agreement through which
WWF will invest approximately US$1 million over the next three years, to
strengthen the area’s protected areas system. The State of Amazonas covers 1.5 million
km2 and includes 13 different ecoregions of the Amazon biome. The funds
will finance activities related to the establishment and management of
state protected areas, including studies to define the areas, public
consultations aiming to protected area establishment, management plans,
environmental education and capacity-building activities, and conflict
identification and management.

The 2004 Bay and Paul Foundations
Biodiversity Leadership Awards, of a total value of US$900,000, were
awarded to eight scientists and environmental advocates who find,
catalog and defend biodiversity in Argentina, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, the
Philippines, New Caledonia, Madagascar and the US.

Frozen Ark – the first tissue bank
aiming to preserve genetic material from endangered species around the
world has been established in the United Kingdom. Frozen genetic
material will be stored to be used in the future for research and
possibly conservation initiatives.

The project
will collect and freeze DNA samples from all kinds of species. Priority
will be given to species most in danger of extinction, with the first
critically endangered animals to enter the “Frozen Ark” being the Yellow
seahorse, Scimitar horned oryx, Socorro dove and Polynesian tree snails.
The project is supported by the Natural History Museum, the Zoological
Society of London and the Institute of Genetics at the University of
Nottingham.

“For future
biologists and conservationists and for the animals they seek to
protect, this global network will be of immeasurable value,” said
Professor Phil Rainbow, Keeper of Zoology at the Natural History Museum.

South Africa, Botswana and
Namibia have proposed including the Hoodia cactus in Annex II of
the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora (CITES) in an effort to limit and control its trade
ahead of the upcoming meeting of the CITES Conference of the Parties.
The cactus has been used by San Bushmen for its appetite-suppressing
qualities and a commercial drug is under development.

On other CITES-related
news, IUCN’s Wildlife Trade Programme and TRAFFIC have completed
technical reviews of all the listing proposals submitted for COP-13.
Available to assist Parties in formulating their positions by providing
them with the most up-to-date scientific information.

Meanwhile, a senior Thai
wildlife official was transferred out of the Natural Resources and
Environment Ministry as his role in the export of 100 tigers to China
two years ago is being investigated.

Over 30 civil society stakeholders
involved in agricultural issues have sent an open letter in support of
FAO’s recently released report on “Agricultural Biotechnology: Meeting
the needs of the poor?” The letter applauds FAO “for moving the
discussion about agricultural biotechnology away from polarizing
political rhetoric and either/or debates toward how best to utilize and
apply agricultural biotechnology to the needs of the world’s poor and
undernourished. It commends FAO for “weighing in on this important yet
still contentious area and offering reasoned optimism about the role
that agricultural biotechnology should play in meeting the needs of the
poor and humanity of the 21st century.”

This letter, which is signed primarily
by free market institutions and biotech stakeholder NGOs, comes a month
after another open letter that was signed by 650 civil society
organizations and 800 individuals that criticized the FAO report
for supporting the biotechnology industry and being biased against the
poor, the environment and food production.

A five-year research project involving
11 EU countries and South Africa, funded by the EU, will explore the use
of GM plants in disease treatment. Researchers aim to perfect techniques
for the production of antibodies and vaccines that can be used to
prevent or treat human diseases, including AIDS, diabetes, rabies and
tuberculosis; diseases that mostly affect people in developing
countries.

Highlighting the project’s
potential contributions, the Project’s Scientific and Administrative
Coordinators, Professor Julian Ma, St. Georges Hospital, London, UK, and
Professor Rainer Fischer, Fraunhofer IME, Aachen, Germany, note that
“While the production of pharmaceuticals in genetically modified
mammalian cells and microbes is well-established and documented, there
are no precedents for the same production process in plants ... We aim
to establish the procedures and materials for the complete production
pipeline, working closely with European regulatory agencies to ensure
safety and compliance at all stages.”

Environmentalists caution
that the project could have unforeseen consequences. Clare Oxborrow,
Friends of the Earth, called for a clear set of criteria to ensure that
human health and the environment are protected.

In light of increasing recognition of
the role of biodiversity in meeting international development goals and
in view of the need to better manage global biodiversity resources and
meet the 2010 target of significantly educing the rate of biodiversity
loss, UNEP is working with key stakeholders to expand its biodiversity
activities and develop its overall biodiversity strategy. To this end,
UNEP has initiated, in cooperation with the UK government, WCMC 2000 (a
charitable organization responsible for UNEP World Conservation
Monitoring Centre’s non-UNEP staff and infrastructure) and other
relevant organizations, a series of actions that seek to strengthen both
UNEP and UNEP-WCMC. These actions include the establishment of a team to
review UNEP-WCMC’s overall strategy and strengthen the agreements
between UNEP and WCMC 2000, and the enhancement of the partnership among
the UK government, WCMC 2000 and UNEP to guide the WCMC’s programme of
work and ensure its financial viability.

Current UNEP-WCMC Director Mark Collins
will be transferred to UNEP headquarters in Nairobi to guide the
development of UNEP’s overall biodiversity strategy and a new UNEP-WCMC
Director will be recruited. Meanwhile Kaveh Zahedi, UNEP DEWA’s Regional
Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean, will act as Officer in
Charge and serve as the Centre’s interim director.

A new biodiversity strategy for UNEP and
UNEP-WCMC developed in consultation with key stakeholders is expected to
be published in early 2005.

A call for a full ban on ivory trade was
the outcome of a meeting between representatives from 12 African
Francophone countries, which took place in Paris, France from 28-29 June
2004. The meeting was organized by the International Fund for Animal
Welfare (IFAW) and the National Society for the Protection of Nature (SNPN)
and drew together representatives from Congo, Benin, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Chad, the Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger,
Mali, Togo, Cote d’ Ivoire, Senegal and Guinea. The meeting was held in
preparation for the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
scheduled for October 2004 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Participants noted that the recent
easing of restrictions for the elephant populations in Namibia,
Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa could prove to be devastating for
the African elephant. Many are also concerned that a re-opening of the
ivory trade could lead to more poaching and to more deadly clashes
between poachers and national park guards.

In related news, the Spanish police have
seized 2.9 tonnes of poached African ivory in Madrid, estimated to have
caused the death of 400 elephants.

The largest population of Mediterranean
loggerhead turtles, nesting on the Greek island of Zakynthos, will be
lost unless the Government of Greece resumes the funding it withdrew
months ago and stops uncontrolled tourism, warns conservation group WWF.

Staff at the National Marine Park of
Zakynthos stopped work in May after going unpaid for nine months. The
Park’s management authority has ceased all operations due to lack of
funds and government support. This has left volunteers in a battle with
tourism operators, in the middle of the tourist season and at a time
when loggerhead females come ashore to nest.

According to WWF, there are no measures
in place to stop illegal development and the authorities have failed to
demolish the 13 illegal buildings on one of the five protected beaches.
The situation is expected to result in the destruction of the nesting
area. “Although marine turtles can play an important role in improving
the economic well-being of coastal communities through well-managed
ecotourism, this kind of uncontrolled tourism must be stopped,” said
Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF’s Global Species Programme. “It is not
acceptable that beaches once protected for turtles are now the domain of
sunbathers, swimmers and ice cream vendors.”

A project aimed at boosting the
conservation of wild relatives of crops has been launched. Jointly
developed by the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI)
and UNEP/GEF, the project brings together the biologically rich
countries of Armenia, Bolivia, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan,
with a number of international agencies, with the aim of improving key
features of traditional crops, such as their economic and nutritional
value and their ability to naturally fight disease. As part of the
project, the conservation actions needed in the above countries will be
identified, and a tested information access and management system with
worldwide application will be developed.

Entitled “In Situ Conservation of
Crop Wild Relatives through Enhanced Management and Field Application,”
the project comes at a time of increasing concern over the loss of
precious genetic resources. Crop wild
relatives are important both for improving agricultural production and
for maintaining sustainable agroecosystems. The genes that come from
crop wild relatives make a direct contribution to increased production,
food quality and poverty alleviation.

Five new natural sites were inscribed on
the World Heritage List at a recent session of UNESCO’s World Heritage
Committee held in Suzhou, China. The new sites are Greenland’s Ilulissat
Icefjurd, Indonesia’s Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra, the
Russian Federation’s Natural System of Wrangel Island Reserve, Saint
Lucia’s Pitons Management Area, and South Africa’s Cape Floral Region
Protected Areas. The list now numbers 788 sites, including 611 cultural,
154 natural and 23 mixed sites located in 134 countries that are State
Parties to the Convention.

UNESCO’s World Heritage mission is to,
among others, encourage countries to sign the 1972 Convention concerning
the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in order to
ensure the protection of their natural and cultural heritage, and
encourage Parties to the Convention to nominate properties within their
national territory for inclusion in the World Heritage List. There are
currently 178 Parties to the Convention.

The International Treaty on
Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture entered into force on
29 June 2004, ninety days after the deposit of its 40th ratification. Fifty-five countries have now ratified the treaty, a legally binding
instrument that targets the conservation
and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture
and equitable benefit-sharing for sustainable agriculture and food
security. The Treaty
establishes a multilateral system for facilitated access to a specified
list of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, balanced by
benefit-sharing in the areas of information
exchange, technology transfer, capacity building and commercial
development. It contains sections on general provisions, farmers’
rights, supporting components, and financial and institutional
provisions, and recognizes the need for close links with the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD). The list of crops in Annex I, which defines the
Treaty’s scope, includes 35 crop genera and 29 forage species.

The Treaty’s negotiations
spanned seven years and were based on the revision of the non-binding
International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture to be in harmony with the CBD. The negotiations were held
under the auspices of the FAO’s Commission on Genetic Resources for Food
and Agriculture, which reviews and advises the FAO on policy, programmes
and activities related to the conservation, sustainable use and
equitable sharing of benefits derived from the utilization of genetic
resources of relevance to food and agriculture.

Chinese officials announced that the
wild panda population, currently at a count of 1,590, has increased by
over 40 percent, as a result of successful conservation practices, and
research on breeding, feeding and disease prevention. The results come from a
four year study of pandas and their habitat, conducted jointly by the
State Forestry Administration of China and WWF. A previous survey,
carried out between 1985 and 1988 by Chinese officials and WWF, had
found between 1,000 and 1,100 pandas living in the wild.

Zhuo Rongsheng of the
Chinese administration said, “We can say with full confidence that we
have achieved great success in the conservation of the giant panda.
However, we cannot say that the giant panda is no longer endangered.”
WWF, however, notes that the
population could not have increased so rapidly in light of continued
poaching and deforestation, and says the increase may be due to better
tracking and reporting methods.

Meanwhile, the Australian Koala Foundation
asked the Australian government to declare the koala a vulnerable
species, after a survey found that the majority of koala habitats have
been seriously damaged. The group warned that koalas could disappear in
15 years, due to urbanization and destruction of eucalyptus trees –
their only source of food .

FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES AWARDS
FOR BIODIVERSITY RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION PROJECTS

The BBVA Foundation, based
in Spain, has announced that it will award five prizes, worth €1,000,000
in total for work on biodiversity conservation. Two awards will be given
to representatives of the Spanish and Latin American scientific
communities for research work on conservation biology, another two will
be awarded to non-profit organizations working on biodiversity
conservation projects in Spain and Latin America, and one award will be
presented to Spanish scientists and professionals for knowledge
dissemination and sensitization in biodiversity conservation. Entries to
each category must be nominated and/or endorsed by experts and
institutions. Nominations should reach BBVA by 30 July 2004.

The Convention on Migratory Species
(CMS) celebrated its 25 Anniversary on 23 June 2004. On this occasion,
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan underlined that migratory species “are
essential for healthy ecosystems, contributing to their structure and
function and connecting one to another .. [and that] they are the basis
of activities that create jobs and support local and global economies.”
Highlighting the crucial role that CMS has played in protecting and
preserving an invaluable natural heritage for future generations, he
called on “all Governments that have not yet done so, to accede to the
CMS and its agreements, so that all countries and peoples are engaged in
this effort.”

As part of the silver anniversary
celebrations, a workshop was held from 22-23 June, in Berlin, Germany,
under the theme “Migratory Species linking Ecosystems and Disciplines,”
during which participants discussed cooperation with other organizations
and initiatives, and considered how conservation goals and policies
could be harmonized with best practice schemes. The Museum Koenig in
Bonn also organized a series of events focusing on threats to and
protection of migratory species of wild animals from 22-26 June.

The CMS aims to conserve and manage
avian, marine and terrestrial migratory species throughout their range.

South Africa officially
adopted its new Biodiversity Act on 31 May. The Act regulates the
sharing of benefits derived from biodiversity with local communities,
protects traditional knowledge and regulates bioprospecting. It gives
legal powers to plan and protect different bio-regions, sets up a system
to protect the country’s rare and endangered species and takes steps to
control alien invasive vegetation. It also adds important controls to
the system of regulating GMOs and gives the Environment Minister the
power to require a full environmental impact assessment for any GMO.

On 25 May 2004, European stakeholders, including the European
Commission, the Irish Presidency of the EU and IUCN, launched the
Countdown 2010 campaign to halt the loss of biodiversity in Europe. The
initiative aims to draw public attention and promote action to fulfill
the international commitment to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010.

IUCN President Yolanda Kakabadse outlined six key steps that the EU can
undertake to reach the 2010 target: encourage the private sector to
contribute to biodiversity conservation; integrate biodiversity issues
into EU development cooperation; support research on biodiversity; work
on implementing the multilateral environmental agreements; integrate
biodiversity into other sectors; and mobilize civil society.

The launch was hosted by the EU and the EC during a three-day
stakeholders’ conference on “Biodiversity and the EU: sustaining life,
sustaining livelihoods.”

Friends of the Earth
gathered over 100,000 people and 544 organizations representing 48
million people to sign a petition to the WTO. Delivered on 25 May 2004,
the petition is part of the Friends of the Earth’s global “Bite-back”
campaign against the complaint filed at the WTO by the US, Argentina and
Canada against the EU’s de facto moratorium on GMOs. Among other
things signatories ask that the WTO not undermine the sovereign right of
any country to protect its citizens and the environment from GMOs.

Marine turtle-related
tourism brings in almost three times as much money as the sale of turtle
products such as meat, leather and eggs, according to a study prepared
by WWF on the economic aspects of marine turtle use and conservation.

The study shows that the
worldwide decline in sea turtle population jeopardizes coastal economies
in developing countries. It is the first to assess the economic value of
sea turtles on a global scale, comparing the revenue generated from
killing turtles or collecting their eggs with income generated from
tourism at a total of 18 sites in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the
Caribbean. It confirmed that the average annual income at sites where
sea turtles are a tourist attraction was nearly three times higher than
at locations where turtles were sold for their meat, eggs and shells.

In related news, six men
were found guilty of poaching sea turtles in the Seychelles and
sentenced to two years in jail, in police efforts to stop illegal trade
in turtle meat.

On 19 May, the European
Commission approved the sale of a GM sweetcorn, putting an end to the
de facto moratorium on GM products that has been in place in the EU
since 1998. The product, which was developed by Syngenta, is known as
Bt-11 and will be sold as a canned product.

According to David Byrne,
EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, “GM sweetcorn has
been subject to the most rigorous pre-marketing assessment in the world.
It has been scientifically assessed as being as safe as any conventional
maize. Food safety is therefore not an issue, it is a question of
consumer choice.” Many environmental and consumer groups criticized the
Commission’s decision.

Despite the authorization,
Syngenta announced its decision not to market its GM sweetcorn. The
decision is due to high consumer opposition and to the reluctance of the
European food industry to add GM corn to its product range. It remains
to be seen how the approval will influence the WTO dispute on EU’s
biotechnology regulatory framework brought by the US, Canada and
Argentina.

On 21 May 2004, the Supreme
Court of Canada reached a decision in the Percy Schmeiser v. Monsanto
case. By a 5-4 majority ruling, it found Saskatchewan farmer Percy
Schmeiser guilty of violating Monsanto’s patent on a gene creating
resistance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup
herbicide.
The Court determined that patent rights on a specific gene extend to the
living organism in which the gene is found. Consequently, saving and
planting seed containing a patented gene without authorization from the
patent holder is illegal.

The case was initiated in
1997, when Monsanto found its GM canola growing on Schmeiser’s farm.
Schmeiser argued that the seeds arrived in his fields by accident in
1997. He said that he saved seeds from his 1997 crop and planted them
the following year, without knowing that they included Monsanto’s GM
patented seeds.

The Supreme Court
recognized Monsanto’s broad power to exercise its patent, despite an
earlier decision by the same court in the Harvard oncomouse case to
reject patents on higher life forms. However, it overturned a lower
court ruling that would have required Schmeiser to pay Monsanto nearly
US$14,000 in profits from the sale of his 1998 crop, arguing that
Schmeiser has not benefited from Monsanto’s technology because he did
not use the herbicide that the company’s plants were developed to
resist.

Carl Casale, Monsanto’s
executive Vice-President noted that “the Supreme Court has set a world
standard in intellectual property protection and this ruling maintains
Canada as an attractive investment opportunity.” Calling the decision a
moral and personal victory, Percy Schmeiser said “We have a conflict
between plants breeder’s rights and patent law and the government will
have to sort that out. All I did was save my seed from year to year. Now
it is clear that a company’s patent will take precedence over the rights
of farmer’s to save and reuse their seed. Farmers should be concerned
about this judgment as they now may lose their ability to continue with
this practice.”

MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT
GOALS HIGHLIGHTED ON INTERNATIONAL BIODIVERSITY DAY

International Biodiversity
Day was celebrated recently on 22 May under the theme “Biodiversity:
Water, food and health for all.” Hamdallah Zedan, Executive Secretary of
the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), noted that the theme was
chosen to reflect the CBD’s firm commitment to achieving the Millennium
Development Goals.

UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan said “the consequences of failing to stop the loss of biodiversity
are too awful to contemplate.” He called for national policies and new
and additional financial and technical resources to support
international treaties in the field of biodiversity protection, such as
the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

Further highlighting the
links between biodiversity conservation and food security, the UN Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced that its 2004 World Food
Day will focus on the importance of biodiversity for agriculture, food
security and rural livelihoods.

Cod stocks have declined
dramatically over the last decades and could disappear by 2020,
according to a report released by WWF. The report focuses on the Barents
Sea, which is north of Norway and Russia and houses the world’s largest
remaining cod stock, and finds illegal and unsustainable fishing,
industrial development and oil exploration responsible for the declining
stocks.

The report highlights that,
while the Barents Sea cod stock, which is managed by Russia and Norway,
appears to be healthy, this may not last, since fish quotas for 2004 are
100,000 tonnes over what is considered by scientists to be sustainable.
Furthermore, up to 100,000 tonnes of cod is found to be caught illegally
every year.

According to Rasmus Hansson,
CEO of WWF-Norway, “to address these new threats, the Barents Sea cod
stock needs to become more resistant, especially since it consists
mainly of younger cod that reproduce less frequently than the older
ones. Only sound management of the fishery by the Russian and Norwegian
governments will ensure the long term sustainability of the world’s last
large cod stock.”

On 15 May 2004, trade regulations for all 33 species
of seahorses entered into force under the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Their
listing under Appendix II of CITES was approved in November 2002 due to
concerns over threats to a number of the world’s species of seahorses
from overfishing and unsustainable trade.

Seahorses are traded internationally for use in
aquaria and in traditional Asian medicine. IUCN has identified nine
seahorse species as vulnerable, one as endangered, and lacks data to
determine the status of the remaining species. Protection for seahorses
is critical, because their biology makes them particularly vulnerable to
overfishing; most species are monogamous and the males gestate the eggs
supplied by the females.

The wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC and
Project Seahorse have produced an ID manual to support the seahorse
trade regulations efforts globally. It aims to assist customs agents and
others to identify the different species of seahorses in trade.

The CITES Secretariat has received over 50 government
proposals for new rules on international wildlife trade, in preparation
for CITES COP-13 to be held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 2-14 October
2004.

Frequent features on the CITES agenda, the African
elephants and the cetaceans are yet again set to dominate discussions at
the upcoming COP. Namibia has submitted a proposal for an annual export
quota of two tonnes of ivory, while Namibia and South Africa are
proposing to trade elephant leather in addition to ivory. Japan proposes
to downlist three populations of minke whale from Appendix I to Appendix
II. Madagascar and Australia are proposing to add the great white shark
to Appendix II. The Malagasy spider tortoise and the African lion are
being proposed for an Appendix I listing. Cuba and Namibia are proposing
to downlist their crocodile populations from Appendix I to Appendix II.

Among the plant proposals are Appendix II listings
for Asia’s commercially valuable agarwood and ramin trees.

URGENT ACTION NEEDED TO SAVE WILD
BAMBOOS, REPORT SHOWSHalf of the world’s 1,200 wild bamboo
species are in danger of extinction because of forest destruction, a
global study undertaken by the International
Network for Bamboo and Rattan and UNEP World Conservation Monitoring
Centre indicated. Deforestation impacts animals such as lemurs, giant
pandas and mountain gorillas that depend on bamboo for food and shelter,
and millions of people who use wild bamboo for construction, handicrafts
and food. The international trade in bamboo products, mostly from
cultivated sources, is worth more than $2 billion annually.

The study,
which is the most comprehensive ever undertaken on the subject, uses
novel methods of analyses to combine distribution data on bamboo species
and existing forest cover. It shows that many wild bamboo species only
have small amounts of forest remaining within their native ranges.
Aiming to create a planning tool for conservation action, the study
identifies locations of high forest bamboo diversity and areas where
deforestation risks are highest.

Peter
Wyse-Jackson, Interim Chairman of the Global Partnership for Plant
Conservation, has welcomed the report highlighting its important
contribution to implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity’s
Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, “By assessing conservation
status, identifying areas important for bamboo diversity and in situ
conservation of threatened species, and providing information on the use
of wild species, the Bamboo Biodiversity report contributes directly to
implementation of the Global Strategy and achievement of its targets.”

In a decision hailed by
environmental, consumer and farmer groups, Monsanto, the world’s largest
seller of GM seeds, announced it would defer efforts to introduce
Roundup Ready wheat, until other wheat biotechnology traits are
introduced.

Monsanto recognized that
“the business opportunities with Roundup Ready spring wheat are less
attractive relative to Monsanto’s other commercial priorities.” Japan,
America’s major wheat importer, has announced it will accept no wheat -
conventional or GM - from any nation that grows GM wheat.

Lisa Archer of Friends of
the Earth said, “This is worldwide victory for consumers and farmers.
Virtually every major wheat-user in the world had already rejected this
product before it even was allowed on the market. This must be one of
the most rejected products ever developed.”

Soybeans have become the favored crop
among Argentine farmers, not only because of a steady demand, but also
because they are inexpensive to cultivate, in part due to cost-saving
innovations, such as the use of GM seeds and the adoption of a technique
called direct planting. However, many experts, economists, agronomists
and environmentalists warn of the dangers of a monoculture economy,
pointing out that it is not sustainable in the long run.

Furthermore, studies from the National
University of Rosario and Argentina’s National Institute of Agricultural
Technology have found that several previously uncommon species of
glyphosate-resistant weeds have increased in abundance, and GM soy
farmers are being forced to spray higher concentrations of Roundup, a
glyphosate-based herbicide. Agronomists warn that glyphosate resistance
can be transferred to other weed species, turning them into superweeds.
Concerns also relate to the impact of heavy herbicide usage on the soil.

In Brazil,
Greenpeace prevented a cargo ship carrying GM Argentine soybeans from
topping off its load in Paranagua, Brazil’s main grain port, which has
banned GM soybeans since October 2003. Gabriela Vuolo, Greenpeace, said
“the economic advantages of being the largest supplier of GMO-free
soybeans in the world could be lost if there is no control to avoid
contamination.” Local agricultural analysts however say Paranagua’s
effort to ban GM soybeans in search of better prices could backfire and
disrupt Brazil’s soy exports.

The EU will fail to reach the goal of
reducing species loss by 2010 if it does not prevent the decline of its
nature-rich farmlands, states a joint report by the European Environment
Agency (EEA) and UNEP, entitled “High nature value farmland:
Characteristics, trends and policy challenges.” The 2010 biodiversity
target was adopted by the sixth Conference of the Parties of the
Convention on Biological Diversity in April 2002, when it adopted its
Strategic Plan. This target was later endorsed at the 2002 World Summit
on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.

High nature-value farmland, which is
usually characterized by low intensity agriculture, is recognized as for
its crucial role in reaching the 2010 target, and the report warns that
such farmlands are under severe pressure from two contrasting trends –
increasing intensity of agriculture in some areas and abandonment of
farming in others. It is estimated that such high nature-value farmland
covers 15-25% of the EU countryside, with the largest areas being found
in eastern and southern Europe and northern Britain. The situation
outside the EU has not been characterized.

EEA Executive Director Jacqueline
McGlade noted that “current policy measures appear insufficient to
prevent further decline in high nature value farmland areas and reach
the 2010 biodiversity target. Consideration needs to be given to
improving the geographical targeting of agricultural subsidies,
especially of less favored area support and agri-environment schemes.”
Frits Schlingemann, Director of UNEP’s Regional Office for Europe, added
that “with the common agricultural policy increasingly focused on
non-trade concerns, and sustainability now a guiding principle, we hope
this report will spur the policy debate and encourage countries and
institutions to refine the high nature value farmland concept and
further focus their conservation efforts.”

The new EU rules on the labeling and
tracing of genetically modified (GM) foods came into effect on 18 April
2004. The rules, which are described by the European Commission as the
toughest GM food regulations in the world, require food and animal feed
to be labeled if they contain at least 0.9 % of GM ingredients.

In a move to align its GM product rules
with the EU standards, Russia has also issued a new requirement for the
labeling of all foods containing at least 0.9 % of GM material. Previous
Russian legislation required labeling for foods with GM content of at
least 5 %.

Also, according to new Brazilian
legislation, all human and animal food containing more than 1% of GM
ingredients must now be labeled, although the law excludes Brazil’s only
widely cultivated GM crop, Roundup Ready soya, from labeling
requirements.

In the biggest annual seal
hunt in Canada over the last 50 years, the Canadian government has
permitted the killing of up to 350,000 seals, and nearly a million seals
in total over the next three years. The decision drew protests from
animal rights groups, who claim the hunt is barbaric, with seals being
clubbed to death or skinned alive. The government on the other hand
argues that the campaign is
ecologically sound and economically justified, claiming that harp seals
are abundant and that a reduction of their population may help depleted
cod stocks recover.

After rising international
outrage over the hunt in the 1970s and 1980s caused the US to ban
imports of seal products in 1972 and led to the collapse of European
markets for seal pelts, Canada
passed legislation in 1987 to reduce quotas to
15,000 annually, ban the killing of whitecoat seal pups younger than 12
days old, and limit sealers to the use of small boats. With markets for
seal skins and products reviving in Asia and eastern Europe, the hunt is
seen as significant economic activity for Newfoundland’s fishing
industry. Despite criticism from environmentalists and the international
media, the seal hunt has broad support in the Canadian press.

In a bid to make the killings more
humane, Canada has new guidelines recommending that most seals be shot
and not clubbed to death. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
says the guidelines on humane hunting methods are being ignored.

MIGRATORY SPECIES MEAS CONCLUDE JOINT
WORK PLANThe Ramsar Convention Bureau has
concluded a three-way Joint Work Plan with the Secretariats of the
Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and the CMS’s African-Eurasian
Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA). Signed at the recent Global
Flyways Conference, the new Joint Work Plan is designed to
operationalize the 1997 Memorandum of Understanding between the Ramsar
Convention and the CMS, which identified five “Areas of cooperation”
concerning: joint promotion; institutional cooperation; joint
conservation action; data collection, storage and analysis; and new
Agreements on migratory species including those with unfavorable
conservation status. Signatories will promote the implementation of the
other convention by existing Contracting Parties, and institutional
cooperation will promote the exchange of data to coordinate annual work
programmes and activities with a view to identifying possible joint
activities that could lead to joint efforts to achieve synergies and
economies of scale.

Hundreds of critically
endangered species remain without protection, a study conducted by the
Center for Applied Biodiversity Science at Conservation International
showed.

This comprehensive
peer-reviewed global study, the findings of which were published in
Nature, combined five global data sets on
the distribution of species and protected areas to provide the first
global gap analysis assessing the effectiveness of protected areas in
representing species diversity. It identified places where
species live without any protection, and analyzed where the highest
priority gaps in protection exist. In total, participating scientists
analyzed 1,171 threatened bird species, and 4,735 mammal, 5,454
amphibian and 273 freshwater turtle and tortoise species. They
identified 149 mammals, 411 amphibians, 232 birds, and 12 tortoises that
are threatened with extinction and enjoy no protection of any kind. The
scientists concluded that, while the actual area of protected land has
risen, these threatened species do not benefit from the increase. Gaps
in protected area coverage could lead to the extinction of several
unique species. The study showed that the
global protected area network is far from complete, and demonstrated the
inadequacy of uniform conservation targets.

Conservation International
calls for focusing specifically on places with the greatest
concentrations of threatened and endemic species, such as Madagascar and
Papua New Guinea, noting that the most endangered animals and plants
will not survive outside protected areas.

Links to further
information

Effectiveness of the global
protected area network in representing species diversity, Nature
428, 640-643, 8 April 2004

Myanmar has
established the world’s largest tiger reserve. The Hukawng Valley Tiger
Reserve in northern Myanmar spans 8,400-square-miles in what used to be
known as the Valley of Death. Larger than all of India’s tiger reserves
combined, the reserve now has 80 to 100 endangered tigers, but is large
enough for 1,000. Living in the reserve are also elephants, clouded
leopards and the rare gaur, a species of wild cattle weighing as much as
a ton. The establishment of the reserve is the result of efforts by the
Myanmar Forest Department and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

“If the
Hukawng Valley is properly protected and managed, this area could
contain the largest contiguous population of tigers in the world, and
help seed other potential tiger habitats that have already lost this
magnificent animal,” said WCS Director of Science and Exploration Alan
Rabinowitz.

U Khin Maung
Zaw, Director of the Myanmar Forest Department’s wildlife conservation
division, said the tigers could rebound quickly, but that locals who are
used to poaching the animals for their body parts would need to be
offered incentives to stop poaching, if the reserve was to be a success.

Eleven European countries,
Egypt and the European Community have ratified the International Treaty
on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, bringing the number
of ratifications to 48. The Treaty will thus enter into force on 29 June
2004, ninety days after the deposit of its 40th ratification.

The Treaty is a legally
binding instrument that targets the conservation
and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture
and equitable benefit-sharing for sustainable agriculture and food
security. It
establishes a multilateral system for facilitated access to a specified
list of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, balanced by
benefit-sharing in the areas of information
exchange, technology transfer, capacity building and commercial
development. The Treaty contains sections on general provisions,
farmers’ rights, supporting components, and financial and institutional
provisions, and recognizes the need for close links with the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD). The list of crops in Annex I, which defines the
Treaty’s scope, includes 35 crop genera and 29 forage species.

The Treaty’s negotiations
spanned seven years and were based on the revision of the non-binding
International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture to be in harmony with the CBD. The negotiations were held
under the auspices of the FAO’s Commission on Genetic Resources for Food
and Agriculture, which reviews and advises the FAO on policy, programmes
and activities related to the conservation, sustainable use and
equitable sharing of benefits derived from the utilization of genetic
resources of relevance to food and agriculture.

The
population of the endangered eastern lowland gorilla has declined by
more than 70% in the last decade, says Conservation International. Found
almost exclusively in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, the gorillas have declined in numbers from 17,000 in 1994 to
5,000 today, mostly due to hunting.

“The staggering and almost immediate
disappearance of the eastern lowland gorilla underscores the alarming
decline of an entire ecosystem,” said Juan Carlos Bonilla, senior
director for Central Africa at Conservation International. “But this
joint effort - which includes everyone from tribal chiefs to
non-governmental organizations and national governments - represents an
unprecedented commitment to preserve the region.”

Conservation
International has announced that it is providing a three-year grant to
the Dian Fossey
Gorilla Fund International to increase
protection of more than 3 million hectares where 97% of the eastern
lowland gorillas live. According to the organization, other species,
such as the chimpanzee, forest elephant, Nile crocodile, Congo peacock,
Congo bay owl, okapi and leopard, sharing the same habitat with the
gorillas in the D.R.C. are also declining in number because of hunting,
mining and human encroachment in the area.

The worldwide loss of
domestic animal breeds is “continuing at an alarming rate,” cautions the
Food and Agriculture Organization. Of
approximately 6,300 breeds registered by FAO, 1,350 are either
threatened by extinction or are already extinct mostly due to wars,
pests, diseases, global warming, urbanization, intensification of
agriculture and trading of exotic breeding material. According to the
organization, the greatest cause of genetic erosion is the
failure to appreciate the value of locally adapted breeds. In many
countries, farmers rely on a limited number of modern breeds that are
most suited for intensive agriculture systems.

“Genetic
diversity is an insurance against future threats such as famine, drought
and epidemics. The existing animal gene pool may contain valuable but
unknown resources that could be very useful for future food security and
agricultural development,” said Irene Hoffmann, chief of FAO’s Animal
Production Service.

A truck loaded with animal parts,
including nearly 800 severed bear paws, was seized in Russia as it was
heading for China. Bear paws are highly prized in Chinese restaurants,
where they fetch a fortune. Poaching is a serious problem in many
eastern Russian regions and Siberia, where widespread poverty eclipses
ecological concerns.

Chinese officials have seized nearly 300
kilograms (660 lbs) of ivory in the southern city of Guangzhou, China.
The operations were conducted on the basis of information provided by
the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), an international campaign
organization that has been investigating the ivory market in Guangzhou
for three years.

A Chinese official said the operation
demonstrates China’s political will to deal with the illicit trade in
ivory. China’s efforts to stop the illegal ivory trade have largely
concentrated on border controls so far and the EIA called this seizure
“a major breakthrough in internal policing by Chinese authorities.”

EIA campaigner Mari Park noted “it is
clear that the one-off sale decision has led to an uprise in illegal
ivory heading to China. EIA opposes a relaxation of the ban on ivory
trade as it will place an enormous burden on enforcement officers in
China, as well as other parts of the world.” The first one-off ivory
sale was agreed by CITES in 1997, and a second one-off sale of ivory
from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa was approved in 2002.

CENSUS SUGGESTS TIGER COMEBACKTiger populations in the Sundarbans
appear to be on the rebound, suggest preliminary results of a recent
census. Shared by
both Bangladesh and India, the Sundarbans are the world’s largest
mangrove forests – a fragile ecosystem that is home to a growing six
million people and what is thought to be a dwindling Bengal tiger
population. The census began on the Indian side of the Sundarbans in
mid-January and continued on the Bangladeshi side in early February.
Preliminary results of the census
on both sides suggest that the tigers may be on the rebound.

According to Environment
and Forest Minister Shajahan Siraj, “the actual number of tigers may be
more than what we had estimated - it could be as high as 500,” adding
that a 1993 survey had estimated the population at 350 to 400.

The Bangladesh census, funded by the
government of Bangladesh and the UN Development Programme, involved over
250 people working in 32 groups. Census
workers made plaster molds of pugmarks to fix age, weight and gender of
individual animals and determine the total count of Bengal tigers. While
the survey found a healthy number of paw prints or pugmarks (1,546), the
scarcity of cub tracks (only 34) could indicate a decline in breeding.

Bangladesh and India will
simultaneously announce their final census results in July. The data
will feed into a UNESCO-funded biodiversity project studying
tiger behavior.

ONE-TIME IVORY SALES WILL PROMOTE
ILLEGAL TRADE, CAUTIONS IFAWIllegal trade in ivory is flourishing in
the UK despite the country’s good law enforcement capacity, says
the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
in a recent report. Entitled “Elephants on the High Street,” the report
comes on the eve of a CITES agreement for a one-off sale of a
total of 60 tonnes of ivory from Botswana,
Namibia and South Africa to Japan. IFAW is urging the UK government to
vote against this proposed sale and the reopening of the legal ivory
trade at a meeting of the CITES Standing Committee that is taking place
from 15-19 March.

Following a two-month
undercover investigation of antique traders in London and other cities
across Britain, IFAW found thousands of ivory objects offered openly for
sale without the necessary papers or with forged documents.
Investigators also found thousands of illegal ivory items for sale on
various Internet auction sites. The report concludes that Britain is the
third biggest source of illegal ivory being smuggled into the United
States, which has been identified by CITES as a major contributor to the
continued poaching of African elephants. This black market business is
likely to boom if, as expected, the sales of stockpiled tusks are
approved by the CITES Standing Committee. According to an IFAW
spokesperson, “any relaxation of the international ban on sales of new
ivory will be used as a cover for the killing of more elephants to fuel
the illegal trade.”

The United Kingdom has
approved the commercial cultivation of GM corn under strict rules.
According to British Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett, the
government made its decision based on scientific research, where experts
concluded that the corn, which is engineered to grow in the presence of
certain herbicides, causes no harm to surrounding plants and wildlife.
Named Chardon LL maize, the GM corn is used for cattle feed and is
manufactured by Cropscience, a unit of Germany’s Bayer. It will first be
cultivated in the spring of 2005 at the earliest.

The decision was welcomed
by the biotechnology industry and many scientists, while it was
denounced by environmental and consumer groups. A series of opinion
polls in the UK have found that
the majority of the British public is opposed to GM crops, and many
members of Parliament have recently come out against the approval of GM
maize.

WTO APPOINTS PANEL IN US-EU BIOTECH
DISPUTEWTO Director-General Supachai
Panitchpakdi has appointed the panel that will rule on the
US-Argentina-Canada complaint filed by the US, Argentina and Canada
against the EU de facto moratorium on GMOs’ approvals. The panel
will be chaired by Christian Haberli, Head of the International Affairs
at the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture. Mohan Kumar, a former
diplomat at the Indian Permanent Mission to the WTO in Geneva, and Akio
Shimizu are the other two members of the panel. The panel is expected to
meet with the parties to agree on working procedures.

Animals in areas that promote
ecotourism have changed behavior, heart rates and stress hormone levels,
according to a recent report in New Scientist magazine. Examples
include bottleneck dolphins in New Zealand, who become frenetic when
tourist boats arrive, and yellow-eyed penguins in areas visited by
ecotourists, who are producing smaller chicks. In response,
conservationists have called for research on the impact of ecotourism on
animals and for studies to be conducted before ecotourism projects are
initiated.

SCIENTISTS WARN OF GM CONTAMINATION
Pharmaceutical and industrial crops are the “back door” to food
contamination, says a new report
by the Union of Concerned Scientists. This implication was made because of
the role of such industries in producing drugs, vaccines and industrial
chemicals. Entitled “Gone to
Seed,” the report warns that
current US testing methods may not detect all possible contaminants, and
urged the US government to strengthen regulations for industrial and
pharmaceutical GM crops. The Union of Concerned Scientists also
suggested that the US establish a reservoir of non-genetically modified
seeds in case GM crops fail.

The most comprehensive study of
endangered humpback whales is set to begin. Hundreds of researchers from
the US, Japan, Russia, Mexico, Canada, the Philippines, Costa Rica,
Panama, Nicaragua and Guatemala will be working together in a research
study called SPLASH, which stands for “Structure of Populations, Levels
of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks.”

A partnership
of the NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program and NOAA Fisheries, SPLASH
is an international cooperative initiative that aims to understand the
population structure of humpback whales across the North Pacific, and to
evaluate the status, trends and potential human impact on humpback
populations. Costing over $3 million and spanning three years, SPLASH
will be conducted throughout the Pacific – from the north in the Bering
Sea and Far East Russia to the south in Mexico and Costa Rica to the
west in Hawaii and in Asian tropical waters – where humpbacks are known
to roam. Participating scientists will take photographs of whales to
help them identify and obtain estimates of whale ages and sex
distribution and determine reproductive and mortality rates. Scientists
will also take tissue samples to collect information on genetic
diversity, and to determine levels of contamination by persistent
organic pollutants. The information obtained will be translated and
distributed throughout the research community.

Listed by the
US Federal government as an endangered species in 1973, the northern
Pacific humpback enjoyed an estimated population of 15,000 in the
pre-whaling period. This number had plummeted by more than 50% to 7,000
in 1992, the most recent year reliable data was gathered. Scientists
today say whale populations have been recovering due to the global
moratorium on commercial whaling that began in 1986.

Seven
tropical community initiatives have been awarded the Equator Initiative
Prize. Selected from a pool of over 340 nominations and 26 finalists,
the seven winning initiatives, which received $30,000 each, were
recognized for their exceptional achievements in reducing poverty
through conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Announced at
the recent meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia, the winners are Colombia’s Proyecto Nasa, Mexico’s
Comunidad Indigena de Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro, India’s Genetic
Resource, Energy, Ecology and Nutrition Foundation, Indonesia’s Bunaken
National Park Management Advisory Board and Bunaken Concerned Citizen's
Forum, Tanzania’s Rufiji Environment Management Project and Namibia’s
Torra Conservancy. Brazil’s Sociedade Civil Mamirauá was given special
recognition for pioneering the creation of Sustainable Development
Reserves in Brazil within a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Spearheaded
by UNDP, the Equator Initiative is a partnership initiative that brings
together the UN, governments, civil society, the private sector and
local groups with the aim of enhancing the capacity and raising the
profile of grassroots efforts that promote sustainable communities in
developing countries within the equatorial belt. Other partners in the
initiative include BrasilConnects,
the government of Canada, Conservation International, the German Federal
Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the International
Development Research Centre, IUCN, The Nature Conservancy, Television
Trust for the Environment, and the United Nations Foundation.

TREATY ON GIANT BIRDS AND FISHING
PRACTICES ENTERS INTO FORCEThe Agreement on the Conservation of
Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) entered into force on 1 February with
Australia, Ecuador, New Zealand, South Africa and Spain as parties to
the agreement. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Peru, and the UK have
also signed the ACAP, and it is hoped that these countries will become
party to the Agreement shortly.

Albatrosses and petrels are considered
endangered and among the most threatened group of birds in the world. In
addition to being exposed to various risks from marine pollution and
having their food source overfished, these giant birds are often
ensnared in longline fishing. Seen by many environmentalists as the last
chance to save the giant birds, the ACAP is a legally binding agreement
requiring Parties to introduce measures to mitigate the effect of
unsustainable fishing practices on the conservation status of the birds.
Attention is being paid to the effects of illegal, unregulated and
unreported fishing, and longline fishing practices. The Agreement will
also allow members to implement an action plan to protect critical
habitat, control non-native species detrimental to albatrosses and
petrels, and support research into the effective conservation of
albatrosses and petrels.

Australia will serve as the Interim
Secretariat for the Agreement until the first meeting of the parties is
held and the location of the Permanent Secretariat determined. The
Agreement requires that the first meeting of the parties be held with a
year of its entry into force.

WEST AFRICAN ENVIRONMENT
MINISTERS PROMOTE BIOSPHERE RESERVES Environment ministers from
Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte
d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger
and Senegal meeting at a roundtable organized by UNESCO on 26 January
2004, expressed concern for the ongoing environmental degradation and
increasing poverty across the African continent, and committed to
promoting the use of biosphere reserves as operational sites for
sustainable development in the fight against poverty and in implementing
the action plan of the environment initiative of the New Partnership for
Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

A project launched involving
UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme
and UNEP will explore how West African biosphere reserves can be
developed and maintained,
while allowing human activities such as ecotourism. The areas chosen
include the Pendjari Biosphere Reserve in
Benin, which is ringed by 30 villages, the Mare aux Hippopotames Biosphere
Reserve wetlands in Burkina Faso, and the Comoé Biosphere Reserve in
Côte d’Ivoire, which has about 210 people living in its
core area. Also included are the
Boucle de Baoulé in
Mali, fringed by dense forests
with many nearby ethnic groups, the Niokolo-Koba Biosphere Reserve
in Senegal, as well as the million-hectare transboundary ‘W’ Region Biosphere Reserve in
Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Links to further information

UNEP JOINS CONSERVATION FINANCE
ALLIANCEUNEP has recently joined the Conservation Finance
Alliance (CFA). Comprising
a wide range of member organizations, such as the Conservation
International, Ramsar Convention, Danida (Royal Danish Ministry of
Foreign Affairs), GTZ, IUCN, National Parks Conservation Association,
The Nature Conservancy, The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
and UNDP, the CFA was created “to catalyze increased and sustainable
public and private financing for biodiversity conservation to support
the effective implementation of global commitments to conservation.” The
CFA was established in February 2002 to encourage and enhance
collaboration among institutions and organizations involved in the
sustainable financing of biodiversity conservation.

CENTRAL AFRICA’S GORILLAS
GROW IN POPULATIONAccording to a census
conducted late 2003 by Rwandan, Ugandan and Congolese wildlife experts,
the number of mountain gorillas in central Africa grew from 324 in 1989
to 380 last year, indicating a 17% population increase, in spite of
warfare in the region. The Virunga mountain gorillas have for many years
been threatened by poaching, habitat loss, civil unrest and spread of
disease, but conservation efforts are helping ensure that this highly
endangered mountain gorilla population will endure. Initiated by the
International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP), a coalition of the
African Wildlife Foundation, Fauna and Flora International and World
Wide Fund for Nature, these conservation efforts encompass a variety of
approaches, including transboundary
collaboration, ranger-based monitoring, community development,
anti-poaching activities and habitat conservation.

The European Commission has
approved a list of 959 nature sites in mountain regions within the EU in
an effort to enhance protection of the areas and their endangered animal
and plant species. The list covers sites in the Alps, the Pyrenees, the
Apennines and the Fennoscandian mountains, and includes endangered
animal and plant species and habitats such as the brown bear, Yellow
Lady’s-slipper and mountain hay meadows. This action is considered to be
a step forward in the direction of establishing Natura 2000, the network
of protected sites in the EU.

As a result of a petition
signed by 1.9 million people, forwarded by the European Association of
Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW),
the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for an EU bushmeat
strategy aimed at conserving biodiversity and protecting species
threatened by trade in wild animal foods. Noting depletion of wildlife
populations, EAZA and IFAW warn that the slaughter of wild animals for
sale in urban areas threatens the existence of species, weakens food
security for forest peoples, and poses a threat to human health from
animal derived diseases. Large quantities of bushmeat are estimated to
be illegally imported from Africa to Europe.

INDIA AND BANGLADESH BEGIN
COLLABORATIVE TIGER CENSUS, INITIAL RESULTS HEARTENINGA UNDP-funded census to count
the royal Bengal tiger
population in the Sundarbans commenced recently. Shared by both
Bangladesh and India, the Sundarbans are the world’s largest mangrove
forests – a fragile ecosystem that is home to a growing six million
people and a dwindling Bengal tiger population. The census began on the
Indian side of the Sundarbans in mid-January and will continue on the
Bangladeshi side in early February. Initial surveys of “pugmarks” and
cub prints indicate that the Bengal tiger population in eastern India
may be on the rebound.

UNDP
spokesperson Lisa Hiller called the effort a “historic milestone in
cross-border collaboration to protect globally significant
biodiversity.” As part
of the census effort,
local communities will receive training on how to help relocate “stray”
tigers back to the wilderness
and away from human-populated
areas.Tigers kill about 50 humans every year on
the Indian side of the Sundarbans, while about 22 people were killed in
2003 on the Bangladeshi side.

The European Commission is
taking steps to implement the Bonn Guidelines and increase equity and
fairness in the use of exotic species. A recently adopted EC
Communication on access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing
strongly encourages companies and research institutions to use standard
agreements with the providers of genetic resources when they seek access
to them. Such agreements would set out terms and conditions under which
genetic resources could be accessed and used, and how the benefits from
their use should be shared with the providers. Providers of genetic
resources may be governments, local authorities, land owners, indigenous
peoples and local populations. All users of genetic resources are also
encouraged to develop their own codes of conduct as a means of
respecting the Convention on Biological Diversity. The EC also envisages
a series of measures on awareness-raising and opens the debate on the
introduction into EU law of a requirement for patent applicants to
reveal where they got the genetic resources they used from and if they
made use of traditional knowledge.

Environment Commissioner
Margot Wallstrï¿½m said, ï¿½This is an issue of equity and fairness. The EU
wants developing countries to have a fair and equitable share of the
benefits arising from the use of so-called genetic resources. The
Commission wants to ensure that companies and research institutes act
responsibly and share these gains with developing countries. If these
countries use the benefits to protect biodiversity and foster nature
conservation, this could provide a win-win situation for trade and for
the environment.ï¿½